Erdington Abbey

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Erdington Abbey Church is the more usual name of the church of Saints Thomas and Edmund of Canterbury. It is the church of a Roman Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of Birmingham served by the Redemptorists.

: View of Erdington Abbey from the Cemetery

In 1847 Father Heneage built a chapel in Erdington High Street, on the croft opposite the end of Station Lane.

Before this priests from Oscott College had said mass in a house on the High Street, but Catholics in Erdington are mainly indebted to the Rev. Daniel H. Haigh, founder of the Church of SS Thomas & Edmund of Canterbury. He laid the foundation stone of the new church on 26 May 1848. The church was opened and consecrated by Bishop Ullathorne on 11 June 1850. The church is an example of the Gothic revival.

The church was designed by Augustus Pugin well-known for designing notable Roman Catholic buildings in Birmingham, such as St Chads and Oscott College The church was built by Charles Hansom, who built the steeple of the church 117 ft high, which is also the length of the building.

In 1876 Father Haigh handed over his church, parish and estate of four acres to the Benedictine monks from Beuron in Germany, exiled for their faith from their own country during the "Kulturkampf", the anti-Catholic and anti-clerical movement headed by Bismarck.

The Benedictine monks were later displaced a second time, as a result of problems experienced by the predominantly German order during the Great War (1914-18). The parish came under the control of the Redemptorist order of priests in 1922.

The Church is Currently served by Fr Gabriel Maguire C.Ss.R - Rector and Parish Priest; and Fr Dickinson C.Ss.R